In complex printing systems, verification of print integrity is a serious problem. In the case of transaction printing, for example, a seemingly simple update to one part of the system can cause a problem in the printed output when, for example, missing resources (e.g., fonts, images, etc.) result from a change in the data path, or where font and other substitutions lead to erroneous printed output such as missing characters, misalignment of fields, and the like. These errors range from minor annoyances to critical errors, depending upon the type of document being printed.
In production printing, it is necessary to provide a quality control system to ensure that the hard copy printed output is rendered exactly as intended. This quality control can be accomplished through a strictly manual, labor-intensive process in which a human quality control inspector visually compares the printed document with a perfect original or “golden” document and notes any inconsistencies. Additionally or alternatively, automated quality control processes are implemented in which the electronic document data used to generate the printed document and/or data derived from scanning the final printed document are analyzed in an effort to verify the integrity of the data. One problem with these automated systems is that they cannot distinguish between trivial document integrity issues and critical document integrity issues, especially given that the nature of the printed document often controls this determination. As such, known automated systems typically flag an excessive amount of documents for manual inspection based upon an identified integrity issue.
Accordingly, a need has been identified for a system and method for providing a new and improved system for print integrity verification.